The Church Chair

For those of you who followed my series on designing a chair from a while ago, I finally started production of the chairs that go with that conference room table for my church. This is the first ‘production’ piece of the build. Now I just need to do 7 more.

Because I can get 1-1/2 chairs from a 1×12x8’ board, it’s best to build them in pairs. ( The second of this pair is 90% complete. I’ll finish it along with the other 6.)

I began by sawing the board in half at 4 feet to make it easier to put through the saw. then I cut it into 3 in. strips. From these I cut the back legs, front legs, sides, front and back. There are also a few cut offs from the rip cuts that give me supports for the seat.

With the legs cut to length, I used my 2-in-1 taper jig to, well, taper the legs. The front legs get a notch cut in them to help support the front of the chair, plus aesthetically, it looks better. (Picture 6 above shows all the parts of the frame laid out.)

The curved back is formed by 3 lengths of plywood via bent lamination. I have to custom fit it to the chair, but it’s not difficult. Because of it being plywood though, I did end up painting the backrest brown because of the sanding involved. It matches well though.

The seat is a flat piece of 1/2 inch plywood. Because I did not curve the seat, I’m including a puffy cushion with each chair.

I haven’t done a Wandel leap onto the chair, but I’m confident it’s sturdy enough. The legs are glued and screwed from the inside and there is no movement in the joints.

I finished the chair with dark cherry stain followed by several coats of spray lacquer.

[EDIT] Here’s a shot of all 8 chairs around the table I built them for. I built the table last year.

The basic ‘waste’ consists of a strip 2 inches wide, the length of the board, plus all long triangles I cut out for the tapered legs. Some of the 2 inch strip is ripped and used for chair seat supports. Other lengths of the 2 in. strip I’ll paint and use as winter driveway posts for the church parking lot. The triangles I’ve learned can be glued up and used to make other small projects.

When I bought the boards, I looked through for the cleanest I could find. For some reason HD had clearer pine than Lowes. I actually made a chart to help me pick and choose and cut around any small knots I found. The chart assured me that I was getting the right amount of pieces of the correct lengths.